Up didn't say a word as the escape pod descended into the atmosphere. He only quietly cried. Taz remained at her post, staring out the window. Their silence was broken when they hit land.
"It looks okay," Taz whispered.
"What does?" Up asked, wondering how anything could be okay.
"This planet," Taz pointed out the window. "There's something that looks like a plant over there, so there has to be oxygen."
"Oxygen test first," Up said, his tears coming to a halt. He nodded towards a button on Taz's side of the pod. "Press it and find the levels. I'll send our coordinates to Headquart- to the Earth base. It will take them much longer to find us, but they're our only hope."
"Air's breathable!" Taz said as Up punched a few buttons in the pod.
"That's great! Maybe we'll find help down here."
"Maybe Tootsie and Mega-Girl will too..."
They were silent again. Up opened the latch and breathed in the fresh air. Taz was right, there was something that looked like a plant near them, but it could also be an odd-looking alien. The ground beneath him was very rocky.
"What planet is this?" Taz asked, following Up onto the planet's surface.
"I haven't the slightest idea. Maybe it's a moon, maybe it's a dwarf planet, or maybe it's an asteroid with an atmosphere. I'm just glad we landed."
"So what do we do?"
"Stay put for now. See if our signal is picked up. We'll explore the area soon."
"Will we be alright?"
"We'll be fine. Escape pods are equipped with meals and necessities. We'll last quite awhile, I think, especially if we find food sources here."
"But we're not going to stay here forever, right?" Taz asked quietly.
"Right," Up said, turning towards Taz. He wanted to say everything he wanted to say back at Headquarters again, but his heart seemed to tell him that now was not the time. "We'll be found. C'mon, we've got to go find what the G.L.E.E. left us in the escape pod."
Underneath the pod's seats, they saw that the Galactic League had left them at least five hundred packets of food. Up knew from experience that the meals weren't particularly tasty, but he'd eat them regardless of their texture. Extra zappers and charges lay next to blankets and a first aid kit.
"Not much in here," Taz said as she opened the kit. "Some band-aids, medicine, antidotes, and gauze. Oh, and there's this." Taz pulled out a syringe with a long needle. "I guess you're supposed to put the medicine in this and... insert it into the skin. Feliz Navidad, that needle is... Up, do you know how to-?"
"Taz, are you afraid of needles?" Up asked, immediately regretting the question as it only earned him a fierce glare.
"No!" she said loudly. "Well, not exactly. I just don't think I could give someone a shot."
"Taz, I've seen you with knives, this shouldn't be-"
"Knives are different, Up. You're not supposed to hurt someone with needles. Don't do anything estupido, promise?"
"Promise. Let's get dinner, and call it a night."
After eating half of a package of ramen noodles, Up wasn't sure how he was going to get used to the poor food. While Taz started boiling another package of noodles, he pulled out a notebook and pen from the escape pod seats, and started to write about the day.
"What's that?" Taz asked, pointing to the notebook with a spoon.
"This?" Up pointed to the book. "It's a notebook that I found, and now it's my journal."
"Journal?" Taz stared at him. "Since when have you kept a journal?"
"Doctors at the rehabilitation center said it would be good for me," Up said defensively. "I kept mine in my room back on the star-" The faces of the crew flashed before his eyes, and Up realized that he was never going to see them again. Tears fell heavily onto his dinner plate.
"-ship," Taz said. "Up, you've got to be tough now. They're gone."
"We could have saved them-"
"No we couldn't, Up. We couldn't do anything."
"I sent them to the ship, if they stayed with us, they could have lived-"
"Up, don't blame yourself!" Taz interrupted again. "We didn't know what Space-Claw was going to do. It's not your fault."
"It is! They stayed behind on my orders!"
"Up," Taz's voice was softer, and her hands cupped his face. "Mirame. It was Space-Claw's fault. That hijo de puta killed them, not you."
"They were our friends, Taz."
"I know, Up, I know. I'll miss them too."
Up's tears slowed, and he saw that Taz was much too close. She seemed to notice this and went back to stirring the noodles.
"Write about them," Taz said, her cheeks blushing.
"Who?" he asked, trying not to smile from her embarrassment.
"Everyone," she said, not making eye contact. "In your journal, write about 15A2."
